George VanBilliard Family Photo

VanBilliard, George, family. Photograph, ca 1903. original in possession of author

This is another of the photos that my cousin Sue gave me a few months back. It was one that when we looked at it we had no idea who these people were. There are no notes on it with names or anything else to help. It was mounted on photo board and it was torn completely in half but taped back together. Since getting these photos I pull them out every so often to see if I can find hints to who they could be. On Sunday I was having a visit from another cousin that had not seen these photos yet so I took them out before she came. While putting them out this photo was calling to me and I could not stop looking at it. I suddenly realized that the little girl front and center was my grandmother, Elizabeth VanBilliard. In this group of photos I already posted the one of her as a child that was a professional portrait. I think she is even wearing the same dress!

VanBilliard, Elizabeth.Portrait, ca 1903 original in possession of author

I started looking through and figured that this must be her family. She had a sister 2 years younger so that would be the baby in the arms of her mother. I have one photo of her mother that I have posted before, and a couple of her father. The one I was going round about was the woman next to the one holding the baby. She looked too old to be Elizabeth's oldest sister. Also I could not decide for sure that the person with the bow tie was Robert, the oldest son or the father. Well this had gone on for a couple of days and last night I sent the photo to a cousin who's Gran would be in the photo if I was right! I just sent her the photo asking if she had ever seen it and to call me! So she did call me. She said that she had never seen it before and the first thing she noticed was that the little girl front and center was my grandmother. So I asked her about the women next to Susan VanBilliard and she said it could be Susan's mother, Sarah Nuspickle Hass! I knew that she lived with them in the 1900 census. My cousin said that her Gran would talk about Sarah living in their attic and she would bring the children up there and read to them from her German Bible. Sarah died in 1904 so I think that my Grandmother did not have those memories because she was still so young when Sarah died. Then I think I have decided that the man in the bow tie is George not his son Robert. So it looks like the two oldest children are missing from the photo.

So this is what it looks like to me: First row: Elizabeth VanBilliard (1900-1985), second row: Luther VanBilliard (1894-1950), Raymond VanBilliard (1896-1971), behind Raymond, Mabel VanBilliard (1891-1971), last row, Susan Haas VanBilliard (1866-1920), holding Margaret VanBilliard (1902-1978), Sarah Nuspickle Haas (1827-1904), William VanBilliard (1889-1924) and George VanBilliard (1864-1930).

I am so excited to have found this all out and if there are any VanBilliard, Haas or Nuspickle cousins out there I would love to hear from you!!!!

Until then.... I will keep on looking!

Susan VanBilliard, Obituary

Obituary, Susan VanBilliard (Haas), Allentown Morning Call, pub. 1920 01-Jan 14, pg. 8, col. 2-3, Allentown Public Library.

Last weekend I did a post about Milton Haas, my great grandmother, Susan VanBilliard's brother. The last record I have found for him is Jan 1915 and I have not found him in the 1920 Census. Susan died in Jan 1920 and I had not found an obituary for her. On Monday, during "Mondays with Myrt" we were talking about my post and trying to find a death certificate for Milton. Someone asked if I had an obituary for Susan. I had not found one before this. When the show ended I went back and looked again at the Bethlehem Library but they did not have obituaries for 1920. I know I had looked there before but went back anyway. Then I went to the Easton Library but they did not have it either. They cover that year but all I found was Oliver VanBilliard, already have those obituaries.

So I hadn't thought of it before because they lived in Bethlehem, but I thought I would try the Allentown Library for the Morning Call obituaries. And there it was was! So I ordered it and received it my email today. Well there was no mention of Milton, just saying she had two brothers surviving, David and Benjamin.  So I guess I need to keep looking for that death certificate for Milton or maybe he is going to be that elusive record that just shows up one day! One can only hope!!!!

The Ever Elusive George VanBilliard

This past weekend was going to be a busy one. On Saturday I was going to the Family History Event in Luzerne County Pennsylvania. It was a joint event by the Genealogical Society of PA and Northeast PA Genealogical Society. So I thought I would go up on Friday and get some research done. I mostly wanted to get a marriage record for my Great Grandparents, George VanBilliard and Susan Haas. I have a transcription of their newspaper announcement in the Bethlehem newspaper.

  "Bethlehem Daily Times: Name[Van Billiard, George Name[Haas, Susan Beckel_Index[George Van Billiard of South Bethlehem MARRIED Miss Susan Haas of Bethlehem, September 19, 1885 in Bethlehem by Reverend Isaac K. Loos"

 I called the Northampton County Orphan's Court in Easton last week to see if I needed to order the record ahead of time but was told that I could just look for the record when I got there. Problem was that when I got there on Friday, I was told that they were having computer problems and they were going to be shut down in 15 minutes for 2 hours so we had to hurry. So the person helping me went over to the index book to see if they had the record but they did not. When I told her about the newspaper announcement saying they were married in Bethlehem she said that maybe they went to Lehigh County since a part of Bethlehem is in Lehigh County. She gave me their number to call them. I told her that I wanted to see if they had my grandmother's birth record. She pulled out the book it should be in but did not find her in 1900. She did find her sister that was born in 1902. So she took the information to put that in the computer quickly so I could get a copy of that. While she was putting it in the computer I did a transcription of the record. She was able to get it in and get me a copy before the computers went down. The transcription is:

  "book 2 page 276, Register of Births of Northampton County. Date of Record: December 11, 1902, Name of Child: Margurette VanBilliard, Date of Birth: June 14, 1902, Female, White. Place of Birth: South Bethlehem, Father of Child: George VanBilliard, Mother of Child: Mrs. George VanBilliard"

Well it is good that I did the transcription because when I got the record home and looked at it real well, in her hurry she put the year of the recorded date as 1903 instead of 1902.

 So after the court house I stopped at the Signal Museum in Easton. The Northampton Genealogical Society is in the Museum. I wanted to see what information they might have on the VanBilliards. As it turned out I had lots more information then they have and it was decided that I should write up what I have and get it to them for their family files.

 I still have so much more I need to find out about all my VanBilliards and like George, they do not make finding things easy! So I will keep on hunting down the facts.